Spectacle is about show and tell, whilst the act of becoming sustainable can happen in the privacy of your own backyard. Start with a compost heap, some home grown herbs and plenty of tender love and care.

Living in the age of social media, where substance has lost its worth in favour of fast, superficial, smooth, fake, exaggerated imagery, we have to be careful when we hear brands promoting themselves as ecologically sustainable. Are these statements true? Why are these brands still doing promotional SALES then? Why are they mass-producing? Why are they making ‘many’ of the ‘same’ thing for everyone, as if everyone is the same? Why are they referring to the materials they are using as ecologically sustainable without truly understanding or explaining to the consumer the ecological footprint that their ‘sustainable’ fabrics are making on the planet?

From a sceptics’ point of view; being sustainable is just another shallow buzzword of the moment. Think about all the stories we hear: one-day soy milk is great for you and then the next day it clogs your liver and you must stop drinking it. Even beer these days apparently has great benefits for the liver. Don’t just stand there and listen to the stories advertising campaigns feed you with a few fancy words, it’s all a big marketing strategy trying to put a tick next to the brand to ‘get’ some attention, be it from the government, industry or the media. Stand alone and see the difference for yourself, don’t be under the influence of what you see and hear.

At House of Ezis we don’t promote ourselves as sustainable, but if you actually break down the service that we offer, we are the most sustainable fashion label and retail situation that you can find anywhere. Every individual formal and bridal gown ‘order’ we complete is based on our specific clients’ requirement. It is this form of tailoring that results in ‘no waste’. Even our off-cuts serve a purpose: the larger pieces are put aside for smaller sections of future orders and smaller off-cut pieces are salvaged by our seamstresses to make garments for themselves and their own clients. We don’t have spare fabric or dresses sitting around waiting for a big end of year sale so that we can create space for more new things to quickly sell more. We only make what is actually ordered by our clients.

Selling quickly and making more space for new things is what I hear from particular boutique owners on Brisbane streets referred to as ‘milking it’. Milking a consumer to buy ‘more for less’ is disgusting as it takes out the quality of the thing you are buying in favour or the quantity. Another example of this is ‘Buy 2 and get 20% of the 3rd’, the point here is that you are buying to have more, believing that you’ve saved money but really you’ve actually spent more. This method is old and it lacks ‘care’. We must slow down, it’s hurting the entire industry, this mad rush without consideration of what really matters takes us away reflecting on our choices and meaningful experiences.

At House of Ezis, we prefer to turn down a sale if we feel that a genuine connection has not happened. We encourage our clientele to slow down and have a good look at what we do, ‘STOP SHOPPING’ and come closer to the act of choosing something that you really connect with. Forget about running to the ‘next’ boutique as you will only see more of the same thing as most boutiques carry the same brands and the only way they stay on the market is by under-cutting one another and reducing their prices to be the most competitive. How is that sustainable?

We choose to postpone and extend the experience to the point where we would prefer that you take our business card, go to the comfort of your home and view our collections at peace. If afterwards you still feel the urge to visit us and make an appointment, it is a conscious choice that you are making without being rushed. We care about the choice you make and we understand that it’s an important decision and it takes time. Allocated time to meet during our appointments allow us to have shared, focused, dedicated time together that we have both chosen and committed to. This is sustainable.